Bearing and Course, differences?

In rec.aviation.piloting, on Thu 30 Aug 2007 10:38:26a, "BT" bNOtiz2
@SPAM.cox.net wrote:

Bearing "To"
Course "From"
is what I was taught..

I use "heading", which I'm willing to assume is equivalent to the OP's
"bearing". For "course", I'll assume that it is equivalent to "COG -
Course Over Ground".

I would not equate heading and bearing. Of course, I am an old fogey who
navigated USCG cutters long before GPS was even thought of. When within
sight of shore, we would take magnetic bearings from two or more
navigational aids (buoys, lighthouses, day marks) and plot them...where the
lines crossed was our position. Meanwhile, the helmsman was maintaining
course using a gyrocompass set to true north.

Bob Gardner

"Really-Old-Fart" wrote in message
.. .
In rec.aviation.piloting, on Thu 30 Aug 2007 10:38:26a, "BT" bNOtiz2
@SPAM.cox.net wrote:

Bearing "To"
Course "From"
is what I was taught..

I use "heading", which I'm willing to assume is equivalent to the OP's
"bearing". For "course", I'll assume that it is equivalent to "COG -
Course Over Ground".

Can I inject a little sanity to this thread? The AIM's Pilot/Controller
Glossary says that bearing is "The horizontal direction to or from any
point, usually measured clockwise from true north, magnetic north, or some
other reference point, through 360 degrees." It defines course as "The
intended flight direction in the horizontal plane measured in degreee from
north."

Bearing has nothing to do with direction of travel. If a controller says
"You have traffic at three o'clock," that traffic is on a bearing of 90
degrees from you.

Course is a line on the chart; heading is the actual direction the airplane
is pointing, which differs from course by the wind correction angle. Ground
track is, hopefully, the same as course (if the wind correction angle is
exactly right).

Bob Gardner
THE COMPLETE PRIVATE PILOT

"Allen Smith" wrote in message
...
Hey guys,
I am a presolo guy, about 11 hours now and getting close to solo.
While studying tonight I couldn\'t really figure out the difference
between magnetic/true course and magnetic/true bearing.

So as far as I understand it, bearing is a referenced heading to
somewhere you want to go, for example: I am flying on heading of 060
heading and to and the VOR is on a 090 bearing (Heading of 090
required to fly direct)

Course is an intended flight line, so if I plan to fly from a to b
(with a heading of 090 to b) My course throughout the flight would
be 090, even if I am 30 miles off course, the course would be 090
while the bearing would change, correct?

Can somebody give me easy examples to understand? My next flight
lesson is scheduled for next week...

Thanks guys!

On Aug 30, 12:45 pm, "Bob Gardner" wrote:
Can I inject a little sanity to this thread? The AIM's Pilot/Controller
Glossary says that bearing is "The horizontal direction to or from any
point, usually measured clockwise from true north, magnetic north, or some
other reference point, through 360 degrees." It defines course as "The
intended flight direction in the horizontal plane measured in degreee from
north."

Bearing has nothing to do with direction of travel. If a controller says
"You have traffic at three o'clock," that traffic is on a bearing of 90
degrees from you.

That is incorrect, or to say it in a better way, partially correct.
You are describing relative bearing.
Remember the old formula to work with ADF bearings:
Magnetic Bearing = Magnetic Heading + Relative Bearing (to a station).

As it has been mentioned before, the bearing (to a station or point)
refers to which way you need to go from the point you are at, at any
moment, to your destination point or any other point.
The relative bearing is what you just described.
Course is the line from your starting point to your destination point.
If you remain on this line, the course direction will coincide with
the bearing to your destination.

Bearing starts with a B and Course starts with a C.

-Robert, CFII

On 30 Aug 2007 05:00:02 GMT, Allen Smith wrote:

Can somebody give me easy examples to understand? My next flight
lesson is scheduled for next week...

First, Bob Gardner's post is very clear and correct.

If you are talking about creating a flight plan and flying a course, the
term bearing is a bit out of place. For flight planning you'll start with
a line on a chart which will be the True Course and end with Compass
Heading.

You use Compass Heading to point the aircraft in a direction that will
result in moving you along the True Course.

The steps to calculate Compass Heading a

True Course - The line on the chart expressed as a True North based course

True Heading - True Course corrected for Wind Correction Angle

Magnetic Heading - True Heading corrected for magnetic variation

Compass Heading - Magnetic Heading corrected for Compass Deviation Error

(I feel your pain... I just went through this stuff too...)

--
Dallas

Dallas wrote:
On 30 Aug 2007 05:00:02 GMT, Allen Smith wrote:

Can somebody give me easy examples to understand? My next flight
lesson is scheduled for next week...

First, Bob Gardner's post is very clear and correct.

If you are talking about creating a flight plan and flying a course, the
term bearing is a bit out of place. For flight planning you'll start with
a line on a chart which will be the True Course and end with Compass
Heading.

You use Compass Heading to point the aircraft in a direction that will
result in moving you along the True Course.

The steps to calculate Compass Heading a

True Course - The line on the chart expressed as a True North based course

True Heading - True Course corrected for Wind Correction Angle

Magnetic Heading - True Heading corrected for magnetic variation

Compass Heading - Magnetic Heading corrected for Compass Deviation Error

(I feel your pain... I just went through this stuff too...)

Many new student pilots are confused by the many different terms used in
the basic navigation glossary. Although mentioned and demonstrated
every time instructors are dealing with this issue, many instructors
fail to emphasize the single most important point for the student to
understand.
If this single point is EMPHASIZED early on in the learning curve, it
can save a ton of confusion down the line as the student ponders basic
navigation problems.
That single fact that should be emphasized early on is that a heading is
always corrected for wind! You can deal with the courses straight
through the chain without a wind correction which can be very confusing
to a new student.
TC -+ Var= MC -+ Dev= CC Notice no wind correction there, but the
student has to deal with wind.
You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH
It's the misuse of the term heading when dealing with charts where the
term course is indicated that confuses many students. They fly a heading
to make good a course so the whole problem is one of correcting a course
on a chart through variation and deviation AND a wind correction to
achieve a final compass HEADING.
I don't know how many times I've seen something in print that reads like,
"What is the heading of that runway?" or "what is the heading of that
VOR radial?"
It's VERY confusing for new students!!


--
Dudley Henriques

Dudley Henriques wrote:

Many new student pilots are confused by the many different terms used in
the basic navigation glossary. Although mentioned and demonstrated
every time instructors are dealing with this issue, many instructors
fail to emphasize the single most important point for the student to
understand.
If this single point is EMPHASIZED early on in the learning curve, it
can save a ton of confusion down the line as the student ponders basic
navigation problems.
That single fact that should be emphasized early on is that a heading is
always corrected for wind! You can deal with the courses straight
through the chain without a wind correction which can be very confusing
to a new student.
TC -+ Var= MC -+ Dev= CC Notice no wind correction there, but the
student has to deal with wind.
You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH
It's the misuse of the term heading when dealing with charts where the
term course is indicated that confuses many students. They fly a heading
to make good a course so the whole problem is one of correcting a course
on a chart through variation and deviation AND a wind correction to
achieve a final compass HEADING.
I don't know how many times I've seen something in print that reads like,
"What is the heading of that runway?" or "what is the heading of that
VOR radial?"
It's VERY confusing for new students!!

And not always that clear even to old students. :-)

Matt

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:40:25 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH

Ah... very nice. That subtlety did pass by me.

I did however notice that if the term contains "Magnetic" (MH & MC) the
correction for Magnetic Variation has been factored in.

--
Dallas

Dallas wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:40:25 -0400, Dudley Henriques wrote:

You insert a correction for wind anywhere in this chain and you change
from dealing with courses to dealing with headings.
TC-+ (WCA)= TH-+ Var= MH-+ Dev=CH

Ah... very nice. That subtlety did pass by me.

I did however notice that if the term contains "Magnetic" (MH & MC) the
correction for Magnetic Variation has been factored in.

Sometimes pilots flying simple VFR will simply draw a line from A to B
paralleling a VOR radial on the chart as a shortcut. This starts you out
with a MC line instead of a TC line since the VOR is a MC already
corrected for Var. Then if you factor in the wind correction at that
point you get a MH...then the Deviation for a final CH for that leg.
After take off, you adjust the CH on observed winds aloft to maintain track.
This is called the " Good God Almighty, why the hell did they make me do
all those damn wind triangles anyway" method used by many newly
certificated commercial pilots......many on the way home from taking the
flight test :-)))

--
Dudley Henriques